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6 October 2015

As the embers of the afternoon sun died for
another day our party veered off the coastal road linking Kalbarri to
Northampton, onto a dusty track surfaced with loose gravel. The scenery changed
abruptly from the raw, exposed canyons of the national park to rolling fields
perfect for grazing livestock and nurturing crops. The coastal holiday homes making way for lonely isolated farmsteads built by independent
pioneers. Unbeknown to us we had crossed yet another border to a land within a
land, Western Australia’s best kept secret. The Principality of Hutt
River.

At $5 a night the camp grounds at Hutt River were the best value and well facilitated we had seen

This little known princedom occupies an
area of 75 square kilometres and is home to a population of 23 (although it
claims to have a worldwide citizen population of 14,000). As we pulled up to
the main post office, chamber of commerce, immigration office and who knows
what else we were greeted by the son of ruler Crown Prince Graeme who due to
his day to day job as a local school teacher has been awarded various roles in
his father’s principality such as Chancellor of Education & Advanced
Research. Prince Graeme kindly informed us that the elderly Prince Leonard was
not available this late in the day but would be hosting a tour the following
morning. We paid AU$5 to stay in the grounds camping area which was very cheap
considering the great shower facilities and numerous fire pits close to
mountains of dead timber.

not a bad spot to end the day

We weren't the only foreign visitors to the
principality, in fact the place seemed more popular amongst tourist than
Australians. Perhaps it’s due to the regions isolated location and lack of
publicity or maybe Australians are a little embarrassed that part of their
territory has been claimed so brilliantly by one educated, determined
individual keen to protect the livelihood of his family, who knows. We had
plenty of time to ponder such theories whilst sharing beer and goon with some
new Brit friends as we waited patiently for Dustin and Baastian to boil some
pasta on the camping stoves (apparently you can’t rush perfection, especially
on a stove that takes a day to boil a cup of water).

The guided tour kicked off at around 9am and
it was totally worth waiting the night. Prince Leonard was stood behind the
counter of the countries only post office. After a personal welcome to the Hutt
River Principality he ran through a well-rehearsed routine detailing the events
leading up to the foundation of his princedom. Sharing anecdotes of struggle,
relief, victory and humour from beating a flawed system. It was clear that this
short, unassuming gentleman who is now in the winter months of his life has
much to be proud of and to reflect on.

As immovable as the man himself

In many ways the birth of Hutt River makes
total sense. The local government was attempting to limit the amount of wheat
produced on individual farm owners. Casley’s land had the potential to grow
4,000 hectares worth of the crop but the legislation was going to limit them to
selling 40 hectares. 1% of what he could grow before. Any idiot could see from
the figures that the proposed quota was a joke to people who depended on
maximising outputs. Over many years Leonard along with his wife and friends fought
the system and due to the Prince’s canny knowledge of local and international
law he managed to outfox the opposition. Many see him as a passionate and eccentric
person and I suppose you have to be to win such a David & Goliath tussle
against Australian Government. But it certainly makes an intriguing story
worthy of the movie screen. In fact I think there is an old film starring Peter
Sellers called “The mouse that roared” which follows a similar plot.

The flag of Hutt River

Like the man the tour was a short and sweet.
At the age of 90 he is sharp as a pin and unafraid to joke with visitors. “Feel
free to write your compliments of the tour in the book on the desk in front of
you”. He quipped to an English woman. “And feel free to leave you mobile number
as well if you like” to which everyone burst into laughter. With local currency
& stamps designed by one of Leonard’s daughters, flags, books, photo’s and
postcards there are many great souvenirs on offer but the best thing about
visiting is the compulsory visa (really it’s a day ticket) and passport stamp
in and out of the province. A timeless keepsake and another blank space filled
in our now bulging passports. That’s certainly more generous than the country
that envelopes the Hutt River. They don’t even stamp the bloody thing any more.

The realm of Hutt

With the morning well under way we set out
south following the gravel roads of the Hutt River region back to the welcome
tarmac of Kalbarri Road with Northampton in our sights. We stopped briefly at
the tiny seaside village of Port Gregory for another photo opportunity at Hutt
Lagoon. The lake is more commonly known as Pink Lake due to its unusual hue
created by bacteria trapped within the waters salt crystals. It is yet another
incredible natural wonder in WA.

Pink Lake near Port Gregory

At around midday we stopped for lunch at
the symbolic finish line of our overland travels in the “historic” (out here
that means its more than 50 years old) mining town of Northampton. Established
in 1863 the town was built on the regions lead deposits. There are a few old
buildings including the church but otherwise there is not that much to do. But
it wasn't the lack of sights that brought us here it was the fact that this
isolated town in Western Australia’s mid-west was the finish line of our
self-set objective. A final tally of 18819 miles through 27 countries and 1
unrecognised principality all without a single plane. It has been an incredible
year of mostly highs and some lows. 372 days of amazing places, landscapes,
cultures but most crucially people. Standing in front of the welcome sign of
Northampton neither of us could really appreciate what we have achieved and
even a few months after that day it only just beginning to sink in. We are certainly not the same guys that left our
home town of the same name on 5th June 2014.

16 September 2015

Wednesday 10th June 2015:

We were awoken at around 5:30am to the
sound of a disgruntled park ranger talking sternly to Dave and Bastiaan. As
suspected our roadside camping spot was within the national park boundaries and
we weren’t supposed to be there. Luckily the lads jumped into the naïve tourist
routine and thankfully the officer let us off with a warning which meant we
avoided an on the spot fine if we hit the road within 30 minutes. This suited
us fine as we were close to a few sights of interest and then had plenty of
time to reach a campsite relatively close to Kalbarri National Park to the
south.

Eagles Bluff

The first of the sights south of Denham is
a lookout known as “Eagles Bluff” where the guide said you can see dugongs,
sharks and whales from the from the high cliff face. Sadly for us there were no creatures to spot other than the odd sea bird but with a great panoramic view along the peninsula it still worth a visit.

.

Heading south just before the boundaries of
the protected zone is “Shell Beach” which as you may guess is a beach with
plenty of crustacean carcasses. This is a much nicer spot and actually offers a
beach scene unique to the area. Now all Western Australia needs is a beach full
of pebbles and it may be able to recreate a typical British seaside scene.

A few kilometres away from shell beach is
“Hamelin Pool” which is home to one of the oldest creatures on the planet. No
not Bruce Forsythe, they are in fact Stromatolites. Layered rock made up of a
colony of single celled cyanobacteria that use a sticky surface to trap
sediment. The sticky solution reacts with calcium carbonate to form the
limestone home. To be honest they are interesting if you consider their
evolutionary importance but to be honest after five minutes of staring at a
group of rocks even the most enthusiastic visitor gets bored and moves on but
hey it’s another creature to tick off.

Stromatolites in Hamelin's Pool

The rest of the day was spent on the open
road as we covered the few hundred kilometres south to our night stop at Galena
Bridge free camp site. It was a nice spot by the river and had plenty of
deadwood to make a cosy camp fire.

Thursday
11th June 2015

Another early start this time on our own
accord as we hastily closed the 100km gap between us and yet another National
Park, Kalbarri. Like its larger WA cousin Karijini, Kalbarri boasts stunning
rust covered canyons and crystal clear rivers all within spitting distance of
the coast and a town of the same name.

Ross Graham lookout offers great views of
the Murchison River as it cuts through the landscape to form a steep rugged
gorge. Unlike Karijini this was a case of passing through and grabbing a few
photographs as we went. Sadly we had to make up for lost time to reach Perth
but in all honesty the fly problem was a real factor. There are other lookout
spots, abseiling tours and river trails to the north but you need a day or two
to make the most of them.

If you visit this national park I advise
you to wear some kind of face net. It makes you look like a bee keeper but it
better than having to eat your way through the flies like we did.

Kalbarri: canyons, stunning coastline and waving whales

Still peckish following our crunchy fly
starter we stopped for lunch in the coastal town of Kalbarri and made use of
the petrol station to restock on the dwindling fuel supply. It a sleepy place
populated by an ageing community of retirees and a steady flow of grey nomads
but is rumoured to be a good place for windsurfing and sea fishing. Heading
south are a few more lookout points along the rugged coastline. Red Bluff and
Island Rock were our favourites as we managed to grab a few brief glimpses of a
humpback whale as it hugged the coast north following the plankton blooms. A
rare sight for most and one I was finally thankful to tick off after the lack
of humpback sightings north in Exmouth.

13 September 2015

Monday 8th June 2015

Veering off the North West Coastal Highway
once again we hugged the coast around the apprehensively named shark bay (which
sounds more like a location on Pirates of the Caribbean than a weekender’s
holiday spot) for just over an hour before reaching the small town of Denham. I
really think Australia needs to utilise words like village and hamlet a lot
more. As it seems the definition of town out here covers anything that has a
supermarket, drive through bottle shop (for those that have never been to
Australia they never sell booze in a supermarket out here but you can happily
pull up in a car or Ute and purchase a tonne of the stuff. It’s meant to
discourage drink driving I think?), ATM machine and church.

Thankfully it’s not Denham’s uncanny
resemblance to a model village that brings visitor it’s the surrounding regions
geography and natural spectacles. The Shark Bay Discovery Centre and Visitor
Centre is a good starting point for all your inquiries and if you wish to pay
$11 you can enter the educational complex. Although as it was another bright
sunny day we gave it a miss in favour of some exploring. A short 4km outside
Denham on the road to Monkey Mia is the aptly named “Little Lagoon” a scene of
white sand and turquoise water is appealing to the eye but we required
sunglasses to view it on account of the swarming shit flies.

Hot Tub Time

Denham sits on the southern tip of
Francoise Peron National Park which occupies the entire peninsula. The park is
named after a French naturalist who sailed on the Le Geographe in 1801. The
park is renowned for turquoise waters, red dunes and white sand beaches.
Although you do require a decent off road vehicle to make the most out of your
visit. Sadly Dave’s Getz and Dustin’s Ford Falcon were a little wasted. If like
us you are bound to tarmac or shallow gravel then there is a consolation in the
form of the “Peron Homestead”. A former sheep station which now houses an
educational centre which resembles Norman Bates’ root cellar from the Alfred
Hitchcock movie “Psycho”. Specimens of native mammals found in the park have
been kindly stuffed and exhibited for the public’s pleasure. It’s a
taxidermists dream but really freaks out everyone else.

The local birds were flocking to see us

To our groups joy the historic merit of the
homestead is nothing more than an interlude to the main attraction which sits
out back in the form of an artesian hot tub. An ideal chance to kick back with
the lads and enjoy watching the emu’s wander around. Sure the water pongs a bit but then again this bit of kit is more than fifty years old and who cares about
smelling a bit when you have to sit back in a sweat drenched car anyway. Sadly
this hot tub was not a time machine so we set off back to the main road and the
remaining 10km to Monkey Mia.

The sunning shark bay at monkey mia

After hearing such good reviews about this
strange named place (apparently it’s an Aboriginal name and has nothing to do
with primates) in Broome we were all a bit surprised to find out that the place
consists of a resort camp site, jetty and a beach. We checked in at the resort
which cost $18 each per night per car. It’s got great general amenities you
would expect from a camp site and a reasonable café, bar and restaurant. With a
few hours of daylight remaining we set up camp and wandered the beach to see if
the place lives up to the hype. The constant stream of tourists seems to draw
the wildlife and walking the white sand beach and admiring the gentle sweeping
coastline as the sun set we were pleased to see a few turtle and dolphins in
the shallows. We even had our first up close encounter with pelicans after we
strayed too close to a group scrounging for scraps from a fishing boat.

Tuesday 9th June 2015

When the wildlife practically throws itself at your feet even an amateur photographer can take great pictures

We all woke early to grab a good spot by
the pier in time for the 7:50am dolphin feed. They have a few slots each day but
we felt the first feed would offer the best chance to get a unique view of
these extraordinary creatures. I have to admit when I heard that the dolphins
come to shore I had visions of domesticated dolphins like the ones trained at
Seaworld in the U.S.A that rely on humans and can’t be depended on to survive
in the wild but I was wrong. The local marine biologists have used Pavlovian
conditioning like you would train a dog to attract in dolphins mothering calf’s
to help assist the young dolphin’s growth. They only allow a few visitors to
feed the mothers and you are unable to stroke them as it has been found that
they can contract ailments and virus from humans. The young calves are left briefly in the
shallows awaiting the mothers to return and allow them to feed. Basically what
I thought was going to be a tourist gimmick that does more to harm the
creatures is actually a well-managed conservation programme. They have even banned
the ever prominent selfie sticks. Probably because they had to issue a few
dolphins with eye patches after some over enthusiastic tourists poked a few
porpoise pupils out with the bloody things.

On the day we visited there was a pod of
around a dozen dolphins in total and everyone was able to get some great snaps
for the photo album.

Its a nice spot but there are a few turtle heads floating by the pier

Encouraged by how unfazed the local
wildlife was to humans Jono, Dustin and Bastiaan decided to spend the day
snorkelling in the shallows while Dave and I wandered further down the coast to
get away from the crowds and search for another pod. The other guys had the
better luck in the end as all we found were more pelicans which made us feel
like a couple of pelicans whilst the others performed synchronised swimming
routines with flipper.

Just when we thought we had seen it all we stumbled across this conga line of caterpillars

As the day hit mid-afternoon we had no
choice but to leave Monkey Mia behind as we searched for a suitable lay-by to
pitch the tents. In the end we opted for a track close to a lookout spot called
Eagles Bluff. Despite it being inside the national park Dave and Dustin assured
us the spot was ok and if it wasn't the park rangers would move us on.

26 August 2015

Saturday 6th June 2015

Leaving the national parks and pristine
beaches of Exmouth in our wake it dawned on us that during the excitement we
had totally forgotten that it had been an entire year since leaving the lush
meadows of home. 365 days of adventure, cultural enlightenment and personal
enrichment gained by experiences obtained across 27 countries. They say that
time flies when you’re having fun and if that’s true we must have had a
cracking good time as it only seemed like the blink of the eye. The
celebrations would have to wait until the evening as this band of blokes had a
busy day ahead.

The southern reaches of the stunning "Ningaloo Reef"

Around 150km South of Exmouth just off the
“Minilya Exmouth Road” is the tiny holiday settlement of Coral Bay. Like Exmouth
Coral Bay is famous around Australia for its close proximity to the vast
Ningaloo Reef and as such offers is a great place to scuba, fishing and
snorkelling. As we only had one day in town we focussed on the latter and
grabbed some snorkels and masks from one of the tour provider outlets close to
the beach. The beach was relatively busy and judging by the swathe of silver
heads on beach towels it turned out the small hamlet is a popular holiday spot
for Australians of an older demographic or those with families. A bit like the
southern hemisphere equivalent of Skegness or Blackpool (If the malnourished
donkeys were swapped for pelicans and the floating sewage replaced by abundant
pristine marine life).

Another turtle! I think I will call you Donatello (image courtesy of our friend Dave Fowler).

It helps to act like floating drift wood i you want to get close to these chaps.

Keen to escape the overcrowding in the shallow
bay we wandered south around the headland to a snorkelling spot the tourist
information desk had suggested. Swimming a few meters out the first thing
that’s immediately obvious is that this place definitely lives up to the name.
The sections of reef we accessed from beaches in Exmouth were great but Coral
Bay blows them out of the water. The sheer scale of the coral blooms is
incredible. It almost feels like your swimming through an alien landscape from
the movie “Avatar”. The healthy condition of the reef was backed up by the
diversity of marine life. Tons of fish of multiple colours and sizes living in
a complex habitat alongside a plethora of molluscs, bivalves and crustaceans.
Like Exmouth the highlight of the day had to be the turtles which seemed to be
all over the place. Dave and I stalked one of these incredible creatures for
what seemed like hours. Hypnotised by its effortless motions and carefree demeanour.
Coral Bay definitely tops our ever growing list of snorkelling spots and if
you’re ever in the area it makes for a brilliant day trip.

If snorkelling or diving doesn’t interest
you the talc like beach is a great spot to waste the day away and is pretty
well sheltered by small row of dunes at the mouth of the bay.

good camouflage

With a lack of free accommodation in town
we all helped ourselves to a free hot shower in the adjacent holiday park
before grabbing a few crates of Emu and a birthday cake from the local corner
shop and trundled 100km south to the closest free camp site. The small patch of
dusty land ran alongside some bush land making it easy to find enough dry wood
for a campfire. The birthday bonanza meant that we finally had an excuse to
dust off the “shit shirts” we bought each other in Yangshuo, China all those
months ago. We even bought some sparklers to complement the highly flammable polyester and create some awesome shapes in a landscape devoid of artificial light.

watch the sparks doof you'll go up like a Christmas tree

Sunday 7th June 2015

I suppose after a week of activities it was
inevitable that we would have a day of boredom and Sunday 7th June
2015 was such a day. A day staring at
the sun scorched tarmac isn't the most exciting thing in the world but at least
it was comforting to know that just over the horizon sat the dolphin hot spot
of Monkey Mia.

We stopped for lunch in the town of
Carnarvon, which naturally lacks the historic importance of its Welsh
counterpart but does share the same humble atmosphere as a safe refuge for
leisure craft and those who live off the seas fruits. The town is a popular pit
stop thanks to a decent sized supermarket and nice public parks with communal
BBQ’s and washing facilities. If you’re stick of sitting in a smelly car,
eating pot noodle all day just find such a spot, crack open the burgers and get
your fill. It’s a luxury you can’t get in the UK thanks mostly to the damp
climate and the fact that if there were public barbeques they would probably be
used as disposal points for dog shit.

scenic spot. I just hope the mosquitoes bug off

The
evening campsite was nestled on the banks of the Wooramel River and offered a
pretty luxurious base considering it was free. With plenty of dead driftwood to
burn, an hours’ worth of Wi-Fi and clean toilets it’s no surprise the spot was
extremely popular with the aged campervan and Winnebago dwellers. If anything
we were something of an oddity for these retired ramblers and it probably
explains that contrary to the last few weeks many of them seemed keen to chat.
By far the weirdest and eventually most annoying was a rough bearded Australian
who looked like someone you would expect to see on a documentary about Big Foot
sightings. He appeared from the gloom whilst we were tucking into our dinner
and just stood in front of us starring into the flames of the camp fire. Stunned
and scared out of our skins we stared back in silence until Dave asked him what
he wanted to which the wiry haired chap said “just wanted a quick talk as we
haven’t seen many backpackers about” (not sure why he said we as he was on his
own). I think the definition of quick chat is a bit different out here because
he continued to stand by the fire a talk for two and a half hours. This wouldn't have bothered us too much if the topic of conversation was interesting but he
continued to stick to his guns and talk car mechanics (which none of us gave
two shits about); foreign policies, which mostly revolved around how there are
too many immigrants (again another strange topic to grace a bunch of foreigners
with) and how their prime minister Tony Abbott was in his words “a c**t” (which
I happen to agree with. He wants to drill for oil beneath the Great Barrier Reef). Eventually the chap ran out of steam and wondered back
through the gloom to his campervan. I don’t mean to sound unapproachable and we
have had many occasions where starting a conversation with other travellers is
a great way to break the tedium but he was the sort of bloke that left me
wondering whether his campervan was full of the belongings of murdered
backpackers. We are after all in a country that contains paces like Wolf Creek
and people like Ivan Milat (If you don’t know what I’m on about just Google it).

15 August 2015

With a 600km journey to Exmouth ahead of us
we left “halfway bridge” at around 8:00am. The sunshine of the new day meant we
could now fully appreciate this tranquil camping spot. Wild budgerigars flocked
and foraged in the grasses along the banks of a trickling stream. Busily
collecting food for the chicks nested inside hollowed trunks. We have fond
memories keeping budgies as pets growing up. Our Nan had a blue and white one
for years named “Charlie”. I had heard that budgies of this colour cannot
survive long in the wild as they are too easy to spot. A theory backed up by
the scene in front of us. It was yet another thing I had longed to see as a
kid. Another tick on the bucket list.

We briefly stopped for supplies in the town
of Tom Price, the closest sign of civilisation t Karijini. It’s not a particularly
picturesque place but it is populated by large flocks of white parrots. Got to
be nicer than pigeons though right.

The rest of the day was spent driving along
the endless highways. They started off as rough, unsurfaced sections with
amazing views of flatlands running to the coast ahead and the rugged hilltops
of karijini to the rear. We always had to treat these tracks with caution. The
spare on the Ford Falcon was as flat as a witches’ tit and after only seeing a
handful of other road users all morning another puncture would spell
disaster.Eventually we hit the tarmac
again which meant we could finally put our foot down and enjoy driving along
highway 136. Our overnight accommodation was a generic free campsite with no
real character. It was essentially an extended lay by, excluding a greasy
burger wagon. The grey nomad’s numbers were rapidly increasing the further
south we travelled. It seems that elderly people the world over find warmer climes
irresistible. It also explains by my grandparents enjoyed spending the winter
in front of a coal fire or with the central heating turned up to a temperature
that would make the Sahara seem temperate.

another great sunset in the outback

Tuesday 2nd June 2015

Woke up early to the sound of grey nomads heading east to
Karijini. We turned west against the grain with Exmouth in our sights only a
mornings drive away. The small fishing town located on the rim of the Exmouth
Gulf Peninsula would be a sleepy place if it wasn't for the hordes of domestic
and international tourists migrating here every year to see stunning beaches
and the word famous “Ningaloo Marine Park”. It’s well documented on the typical
tourist guides that this is one of the few places in the world where you can
snorkel and dive with three huge underwater creatures. The Whale Shark, Manta
Ray and Humpback Whale. As a lover of “most” things wildlife (I would say all
but I’ve seen too many rats and bed bugs I the last year) I set off with Dave,
Dustin and Bastiaan to a local tour provider. There are many options in town
but we chose “Charter 1” as one of the Canadian girls we met on the road to
Karijini worked for them and we saw a prime opportunity to grab a bit of
discount.

Got to see our first wild kangaroo's 500m from the tent

With the tour booked for the following
morning once again we were on the prowl for accommodation which unless you want
to stay in a hostel is pretty easy as there only seemed to be one place.
“Lighthouse Caravan Park” lies 10km north of the town and costs $10 a night per
person, which includes cooking facilities, warm showers, clean toilets and a
pool.This was definitely a decent deal
considering the site is located closer to Cape Range National Park than the
town meaning early bird gets to the beaches before other tourists.

Wednesday 3rd June 2015

Dustin, Bastiaan, Dave and I had to wake up
bright and early as we prepared for the pick up by Charter 1. I was a bit
gutted Jono was missing out on this once in a lifetime opportunity but in his
words he would “rather save up cash for a thrill seeking activity”.This seemed a little short sighted as the
waters the whale sharks occupy also contain Great White and Tiger Sharks. If
you see these chaps snorkelling I’m certain that would be enough thrills for a
lifetime. Or maybe I’m mistaking thrills with fear. 7:30am and with Jono left at
base camp the rest of us hopped on the tour bus which just so happened to have
our Canadian friend, Jo at the wheel and headed to the harbour.

Ningaloo Reef

The $345 (£173) day trip may seem a bit
pricey but with a packed schedule and the opportunity to see such an array of
underwater beasts it was well worth it. Before setting out to the big stuff the
tour stops off at a section of the huge Ningaloo reef to allow you to get used
to the snorkel gear. This turned out to be a nice 30 minute warm up session as
it highlighted a smorgasbord of reef dwellers from tiny clown fish to the
larger wrasse, gar fish, and cow tailed rays. I even had my first encounter
with a shark not accustomed to eating plankton, the white tipped reef shark. Like most sharks these eat meat although at a
size not exceeding 1.3m it’s pretty safe to swim with. Apparently Ningaloo is a
breeding ground for these Carcharhinidae. Even after a few minutes it’s amazing
how healthy and vast this reef system is in this part of the world. We have
snorkelled reef in Indonesia but to get to the good reef you often have to swim
through a belt of bleached white dead reef. At Ningaloo it was as you expect a
reef to be. Just one intricate ecosystem.

After re-boarding the ship the crew
directed the craft through a gap in the breakers to deeper waters where the
whale sharks were rumoured to be hanging out. The odds of seeing these
creatures are stacked in your favour thanks to the network of search planes
scanning the horizon and relaying sightings to the ground crews. Finally we
were told to quickly form two groups of ten as there was a shark heading our
way. We were in the first ten so we excitedly plunged into the cool water and
waited. The aim is to line up, wait for
the shark to pass and then swim after it in two smaller groups so everyone can
see. What actually happens is that as soon as you get a glimpse of the
creatures gapping mouth that all goes out of the window as arms, elbows, legs
and selfie sticks are used to batter away anyone who might be in a better position.
Quite content allowing the rabble destroy any chance of savouring the moment
Dave, Bastiaan, Dustin and I swam around the first whale shark (which was a youngster
at round 5m long) and swam along this majestic creature. For sharks these guys
have taken a completely different path. Preferring to be passive, gentle
vegetarian using their sheer size as protection. If any creature lives up to
the term “gentle giants”, it is the whale shark. The speckles on their back are
as unique as a fingerprint and the tour operator’s double up as marine
biologists documenting every sighting. I was surprised to hear later that we
know more about the outer reaches of the solar system than we do about whale
sharks. Migratory patterns and breeding grounds are still a mystery.

larking about with a whale shark

Across the entire day we saw a total of
three whale sharks with three attempts to view each and to top it off we even
saw a rare glimpse of a Dugong (a kind of salt water manatee). Sure it would
have been nice to tick off a manta ray and humpback whale as well but to see one
of the big three was a real privilege.

5:30pm: We arrived back at camp completely
knackered from all the exercise and exhilaration. Keen to view the footage from
the day. We were met by Jono who had a lazy day sun bathing. Think he was pretty
annoyed at all the whale shark talk.

As typical with road trips we once again
bumped into a couple we had met at the free camp site close to Karijini. Steve
(Eng) and Andrea (Ger) had just arrived in Exmouth and were keen to swim with
the whale sharks. Something tells me we will bump into this cool couple with
their clamped out camper van again on our travels.

Thursday 4th June 2015

It was a sluggish start following the events
of the day before but we couldn't hang around as there is always more to see.
We headed into Exmouth for supplies, a spare tyre and the tour footage from
charter 1. In the end we replaced the destroyed tyre but and fitted the slow
punctured one as a spare. Like Port Hedland the cost for two replacements would
have ruined us so Dustin decided to see if things were cheaper further south. Better
than nothing I suppose.

Squiddly Diddly Octopus

With the boring errands out of the way we
drove north out of Exmouth, past the camp site and pressed on towards Cape Range
National Park. The park sits on the western shore of the peninsula looking out
across the vast Indian Ocean and was rumoured to have incredible beaches. Being
mid-afternoon we only had a few hours until dark so could only stop off at one
spot. Dave chose the quiet spot of “Lakeside Bay” close to the visitors centre.
I know this may come as a surprise but once again we were presented with a stunning
beach all to ourselves. The best thing about this spot was the rock pooling. We
arrived just as low tide hit and that meant there were many creatures caught I the
pools. I have never seen so many octopus in shallow water. Everywhere we stepped
we disturbed one of the little suckers (like what I did there). Added to “squiddly
diddly”, we saw large clams, crabs, sea cucumbers, a ball of catfish and even a
toxic sea snake (which Dustin almost stepped on). It’s the kind of diversity
you expect in an aquarium but not whilst paddling through a shallow pool.

Lakeside Bay

Friday 5th June 2015

Over a baked bean breakfast we mutually decided
to stay one more night in Exmouth. There were still other beaches to visit and
if they were anything like Lakeside Bay we would kick ourselves for missing
them (Also the camp site was cheaper than in Coral Bay to the south).

At 11:30am we drove to “Oyster Stacks”,
another nice beach for high tide and more snorkelling opportunities. Unfortunately
our luck had ran dry as the combination of a strong tide and low visibility
made viewing you’re an outstretched hand impossible let alone a fish. So we had
no choice but to knock it on the head.

Holding
onto a small amount of hope the next spot on the list was “Turquoise Bay” which
judging by its name is probably usually more teal coloured than when we
visited. I’m not saying the spot was ugly, far from it. The bay would beat any
British beach hands down but if anything the visibility was worse than at “Oyster
Stacks”. It just seems that on this occasion the conditions were not
favourable.

To ensure the day wasn’t a complete right
off we returned to Lakeside Bay and poked some octopus with Bastiaan’s GoPro
before dodging suicidal kangaroos on the ride back to camp.